BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- The Palestinian Authority Ministry of National Economy, charged with implementing the boycott of settlement-made goods, announced Tuesday it will be launching a boycott campaign against an Israeli chain of superstores, a statement read.

The ministry said the Rami Levi Shivok Hashikma chain, which has "spread like cancer" following the opening of new stores in Ramallah, Hebron and Bethlehem.

Distributors and promoters of Rami Levi products will be prosecuted for adverting or selling their goods in the West Bank, and consumers are encouraged to opt for locally made produce instead, which the ministry said is often "thrown and damaged at checkpoints" instead of being sold in the Israeli market.

The ministry further said it is working to form a "solid shield" to protect the Palestinian market and vowed to support locally-made goods.

The chain helps the destruction of the Palestinian economy, the ministry said, adding that it was working to break Israel's monopoly on the market and clear it of settlement-made produce.

According to the Rami Levi website, many of its 15 stores are located in East Jerusalem and West Bank settlements. It also has a number of sister companies, including a clothes store, real estate development, and a wholesale distributor.

"As a wholesale distributor, the company services 450 sales locations in Jerusalem and its surrounding area. The company employs around 1,000 employees and enjoys a constant, continues growth," the website states.

At the beginning of 2010, the PA announced a comprehensive boycott of services and goods produced on illegal West Bank settlements. The PA has also moved to ban Palestinians working in settlements.

1 ) Robert Haymond / Israel/Canada

21/09/2010 20:29

The Rami Levi grpcery store in Gush Etzion, recently opened up, employs as many Palestinians as it does Jews; many of the Palestinians are in supervisory positions. The article in Ynet indicated that both peoples get along well. My daughter, who shops there, said the same. This is a good example of what could transpire if Jews and Arabs were let alone, unattended by politics, in a work environment. According to the article, friendships between Jews and Arabs have also developed.

2 ) southparkbear / usa

21/09/2010 21:36

please print all shekels in WB

3 ) BEN JABO / ISRAEL/USA

22/09/2010 02:41

Boycott the chains, and what you're left with is rotting meat hanging out doors in the sunlight, flies eating the meat before you can get a chance to eat any yourself

And while you're at it, get some jobs for the Arab employees of the chains that will lose their jobs

No sacrafice is too great, unless you're the one that has to make it

Don't forget to boycott drugs and applicances manufactured in the WB,no need to concern yourself with your own personal well being

4 ) BEN JABO / ISRAEL/USA

22/09/2010 13:35

Notice one small thing, the instigators of the boycott will have jobs, the suckers that listened won't

It's simply of matter of "Do as I say, not Do as I do"

5 ) BEN JABO / ISRAEL/USA

22/09/2010 15:16

The U.S. food co-op rejected the boycott, it's in today's Ma'an

6 ) John / USA

22/09/2010 22:42

1) I understand that many known Jews worked with the Nazis as well. Many in Nazi uniforms and in good positions. Does that mean the Nazis were nice guys?

7 ) Robert Haymond / Israel/Canada

23/09/2010 07:43

Not many, John. We had some soldiers with Jewish ancestry in the German army and, of course, there were the kapos, some of whom sught to save their own lives by punishing fellow Jews. Now what's this nonsense about comparing Jews who helped, or appeared to help, Nazis, with Jews and Palestinians working together in the mideast? You reside in the USA and all your hostile rhetoric comes from a privileged and secure perch far away. Most Palestinians would also dismiss you, incidentally.

8 ) John / USA

23/09/2010 22:24

7) Robert, How nice of Zionists to hire Palestinians after they have dispossessed them of their homes and property then imprisoned them in ghettos and concentration camps, literally making beggars of them. When there is one state with equality for all I will be happy to hire you or your children to work for me.

9 ) John / USA

23/09/2010 22:39

7) Hostile Rhetoric? I have always advocated one state for both peoples living as equals. You are the one with a "master race" mindset supporting ethnic cleansing to make room for your exclusive "Jewish only" state. So ironic that you would describe my posts as "hostile"....its the equivalent of a Nazi telling a Holocaust victim not to be so angry.

10 ) Robert Haymond / Canada/Israel

24/09/2010 05:53

Dramatic overplay, John. You have no idea of either concentration camps nor the life of Arabs residing in Shomrun and Judea (Westbank). I've been there and I know many who live there including Arabs. Life is pretty good given that no taxes nor electiricity need be paid. If anyone wants the status quo, it's the Palestinian Arabs of the Westbank. As I've indicated before, Palestinian Arabs don't want you nor your opinions. You infantilize them while remaining an armchair hero.

11 ) John / USA

24/09/2010 23:11

10) Robert, you do grasp how close to a Nazi you really are. If anything in history could be considered "dramatic overplay" it is precisely the Holocaust which the Zionists have used shamelessly and without end to garner sympathy. You show your complete ignorance when you claim Palestinians do not pay for electricity and do not pay taxes. And you show what an imbecile you are when you claim the Palestinians enjoy the status quo. You need to get off your "master race" kick.

12 ) Robert Haymond / Canada/Israel

25/09/2010 09:06

Like I said, John, you don't know the situation in the Westbank and it's obvious you don't want to know. It's all a mindgame for you from your safe haven in the USA. For other Readers who really want to do serious work and do not reside in the Westbank, I'd like to refer you to journalist Tom Gross (you can google him) for his take based on actual first-person observations. As for you, John, I don't expect you to follow up. You don't have a clue. For you, it's all dramatic theory.

13 ) Ramirez / Monaco

25/09/2010 15:20

Boycott everything that the apartheid entity in Palestine produces until (if ever) the supremacist colonizers learn to live like human beings.
Boycott Barcode 729
Say no to apartheid and murder!
BDS IS BITING HARD

14 ) Outsider / EU

25/09/2010 15:42

It's unfortunate that a boycott of a chain investing in Palestine has to take place. But it's true that the situation has to change. The economic benefits of resolving the Israel-Palestine border issue would be huge.

15 ) Carlos / USA

25/09/2010 16:18

Palestinian Arabs in the West Bank are occasionally dragged from thier houses to be physically abused by Israeli Army and Settler terrorists. Thier farm land is burned and land stolen. Robert of Canada says Palestinian like the situation since they get a tax break!? Robert are you all there? Do you understand how ridiculous it is what you are saying? How much are the Israelis paying you to say these silly things?

16 ) BEN JABO / ISRA EL/USA

25/09/2010 18:07

15 ) Carlos / USA

Did you ever stop to think why they were dragged from their houses?

It was because the IDF had intelligence information about illegal activiites,and they received that very same information from a snith neighbor, he earned a couple of bucks

You asked Robert how mcuh he wa being paid, who is paying you, because you're certainly not giving them value for the money

17 ) BEN JABO / ISRAEL /USA

25/09/2010 18:10

13 ) Ramirez / Monaco

Your basic problem is that you're throwing around the word "Racist" and you are ignorant of the Muslims practice it

Why not look up "Dhimmi's" or "Dhimmitude' on the internet, it will tell you exactly who the original practioners were and are ?

You will make you feel so much better after you learn what it's all about

18 ) John / USA

25/09/2010 19:54

12) Robert, I have lived in Palestine (from the Mediterranean to the Jordan River). But for those who have not been there it is possible to know the situation by talking to Palestinians who do live there. But you would instead refer them to Tom Gross, a Zionist Jew masquerading as a journalist. Like yourself he has an agenda and considers the truth a minor inconvenience. Anyone who speaks the truth gets labeled, in you your words, "a self hating Jew" or "antisemitic". You are really pitiful.

19 ) Robert Haymond / Israel/Canada

25/09/2010 22:10

I don't think you ever been to the mideast, Carlos and you believe pretty much everything you read as long as its anti-Israel. You refuse to consider information which might alter your view, even slightly. If you were an intelligent man, you'd realize what an insult you've just been subject to. You need some firsthand information and see what it's really like if you want to achieve any credibility whatsoever. And many Palestinians residing in the Westbank want to maintain the status quo.

20 ) Robert Haymond / Canada/Israel

26/09/2010 02:25

Truth is, John, you have never read anything written by Tom Gross. He has a long essay on life in Ramallah based on his visit. 0f course it's not the same as actually visiting the area yourself. As for you, John, smugly as you write it, it's obvious that you write without any firsthand knowledge of the mideastern cultures nor the mideastern people but you can certainly scream "zionist" (as though it's a bad word) and "Nazi" (although you are obviously ignorant of German history).

21 ) John / Palestine

26/09/2010 19:58

20) Robert, you should not use the word "Truth" in your posts. I must repeat it again: You telling me that "Zionist" is not a bad word is like a concentration camp guard preaching the virtues of Nazism. But you do not have any "firsthand" knowledge of Concentration camps, you were not there, for all you know the Holocaust never happened. Maybe we should seek out a Neonazi who has visited the camps to tell us about his experiences there.....then we would have the truth, isn't that right Robert

22 ) Raymond in DC / USA

06/10/2010 19:00

John writes, "I have lived in Palestine (from the Mediterranean to the Jordan River)". Since such a place has never existed (except in your imagination) you are only demonstrating your ignorance and bigotry.
You love to sling phrases like "Nazi", "occupation" and "concentration camp", none of which you truly understand. You remind me of cult followers who have only a script to follow. Give it up. You are convincing no one.

23 ) conenorm / USA

06/10/2010 21:56

John, you are simply a Jew-hater with a very low IQ, living in a Fantasy-Land called "Palestine". There never was a Palestine ans I hope it never will be any.
Why did'n you and yours create a Palestinian state between 1948 and 1967
when the West bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza were "judenrein" and Arab ?

24 ) Matzpen / USA

07/10/2010 16:42

To say that Boycotting Israel, or any pro-Palestinian opinions, is somehow "anti-Semitic" is a cynical use of the memory of the Holocaust to change the subject, and is odious falsehood. To say that criticism of Israel is anti-Semitic is itself anti-Semitic for it generalizes all Jews and creates an equivalence between all Jews everywhere and Israeli policies.
http://sherrytalksback.wordpress.com/2010/10/07/is-boycotting-israel-anti-semitic/

25 ) Fida / palestine

29/10/2010 11:44

Robert Haymond / i'm palestinian living in the west bank, and if you have any idea about what u r talking about , u would know that no Palestinian is happy with the status quo !!! because no human agrees to live with humiliation and stultification... or mayb u like to live such a live !!!

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